Blues face crunch clash at bottom end of table

WHITBY Town host fellow strugglers Hucknall Town in a huge game on Wednesday (30 Mar) night, writes Andrew Snaith.

While Tommy Cassidy’s men picked up a terrific point after being two down at high-flying Matlock on Saturday, the Notts club grabbed a 2-1 win at lowly Nantwich.

This took them ahead of the Blues by a single point and even the goal difference is level.

Cassidy is very pleased with his side’s work rate in recent games but knows complacency would be disastrous with Nantwich in town at the weekend.

“It’s no good playing well against Matlock and FC United and not bringing that into two big games this week.

“It’s not going to be easy, but if we show the same attitude from Saturday then we’ll win those games.

“If we don’t, we could struggle.”

Cassidy is also cautious about bringing back injured players Chris Batchelor and Andy Campbell.

He told the Whitby Gazette: “There’s a slight chance of them coming back, but I’d say it was 60/40 against.

“My worst fear is bringing them back in for 20 minutes or so and have them get injured and be ruled out for a month.”

Hucknall’s resurgence has coincided with the return of striker Tyeisse Nightingale.

The Yellows hadn’t won in the league since October and lost 2-1 at home to the Blues two weeks ago thanks to Jimmy Beadle’s 88th minute chip.

But a 5-2 win over relegated bottom-club Retford United and their weekend success over Nantwich, saw the frontman notch five goals in two games.

Meanwhile, Whitby are sweating on the fitness of Ibby Hassan (shoulder) and Tony Hackworth (hamstring) who played through injury in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Matlock Town, as well as Joe Cornforth (neck) who missed the trip.

The Hucknall clash is the first of three successive home games for the Blues.

Nantwich, who are two points and two places above fourth-bottom Whitby, visit on Saturday (2 April) with fourth-placed Buxton the opposition on Wednesday 6 April.